Broad shield Dallas wings; "Seastrunk"?

[blind pew]

This is a topic that was visited before, in which I bought what I thought were a pair of Eisenstadt wings, but the shield was much broader, the stars bigger, and it had an odd metal, non cloth covered backing. The wings were three piece construction and VERY heavy, marked only with "sterling" on the reverse. 

 

Chris had determined these "broad shield" wings were probably made by "Seastrunk" and are a distinct type of one of the many Dallas wing types. Well................. low and behold I found another pair on Daniel Griffin's site and picked them up. 

 

These are different from the first pair I got. The wings and shield are identical; however, there is a "checkered" metal area between the wings and the shield on the front. Further, the beading where the wings are adjoined to the shield have been eliminated (it appears through the fixation process). On the reverse, these wings are also different. The wings are adjoined to the shield by two metal loops, rather than the flat, eliptical metal pieces on the other set. Lastly, the central depression on the reverse center of the shield is a gradual, circular depression, rather than the clearly cut demarcated circular depression in the first set. 

 

As with the other set, they are only marked "sterling" on the reverse, with no apparent maker mark. Also, these wings are much heavier than the conventional BB&B wings or those called Eisenstadt. They have a heft and weight similar to the Haltom type wings and are 3.5 inches wide. 

 

 

[cwnorma]

5 hours ago, blind pew said:

Chris had determined these "broad shield" wings were probably made by "Seastrunk" and are a distinct type of one of the many Dallas wing types. Well................. low and behold I found another pair on Daniel Griffin's site and picked them up. 

Tom,

 

I am not sure I could confidently use the qualifier "probably" with respect to these having been made by Seastrunk.  Seastrunk was a Dallas-based jeweler.  My prevailing theory is that these particular "three-feather + broad-sheild" Dallas-type wings were made by a west-coast manufacturer.  

 

I have to admit though that I have found no direct evidence (yet) for that theory.  The best circumstantial evidence that these have a west-coast origin is that when they do show up in named groupings, they are invariably associated with RMAs who graduated basic flight training at California air fields.

 

Cheers!

 

Chris

[blind pew]

Whoops!

 

My goof! I guess I got it wrong about the Roy Seastrunk bit. 

 

Interesting bit about the west coast source. Isn't Haltom from SF? Funny that those are heavy and large size, just like these broad shield Dallas wings. 

 

The difference in the attachment of the wings to the shield compared to the other "broad shield" example I have is interesting. 

 

Thanks for the information!

[blind pew]

Whoops! Shreve is from SF, not Haltom. 

[rustywings]

One of those early “West Coast” jewelry and aviation badge manufacturers was named “Entenmann Co.” Established in 1888 in Los Angeles, they produced cop and fireman badges, shooting badges, as well as early military and airlines wings and cap badges.  
 

The Entenmann Co. produced Pilot wings in the early 1920’s for the “Aero Corporation of California” which was a start-up Los Angeles based civilian airlines. Their Pilot wings combined a very similar appearing USAS Dallas-style sterling wing with the raised initials “ACC” across the shield and an Indian arrow incorporated into the wing design. A beautiful and very rare Aviation badge if you’re lucky enough to find one!

 

Over time, the Entenmann Co. evolved into “Entenmann-Robin Company” and the are still in business today.
(2425 Garfield Ave, Los Angeles, Ca.)

 

 

[rustywings]

I’m not sure if this small overseas cap-size Dallas-like wing will contribute much to your full-size wing research?  But it does exhibit a nice example of a Roy Seastruck hallmark…

 

[rustywings]

Spell-check got me again!

 

On entry #5 above, it’s currently named the “Entenmann - Rovin Co.” (not Robin Co.)

[pfrost]

The great Dallas wing conundrum.

 

Ah... the days of BC (Before Chris) when everyone who could read Duncan Cambell's bood knew everything about WWI Dallas wings. We all KNEW there were two types (multi-feather BB&B and three feather Eisenstandts).  The dealers were full of sage advice, the prices were expensive but stable, and the collectors were mollified.  You could "fill" the Dallas Wing Ricker mount in your collection with an example of each and everyone knew that the good ones had beads that extended past the wing times and the fakes didn't.  Life was easy, forum discussions were muted, and unless you had one of those rare "Dallas" wing unicorn variations or bought a House of Swords fake (or some sort of horrid "He Who Shall Not Be Named Lord Joe museum reproduction).... there were very few tears associated with Dallas wing.

 

People like me, with rampant pontificationitis, were left to nibble around the edges, bloviating on various forum thread about various Dallas wing conspiracy theories.

 

But to give credit where it belongs, I do recall Chris being the first to say "Not so fact, buttercups, I am not sure WHY we think the 3 wing Dallas wing was actually made by Eisenstadt.  I have another theory".  Frankly, I think he did a great service to the collecting field.

 

Then a number of researches (including me) found one (then a second) patent application FROM the Dallas area that showed identical 3 wing Dallas wing designs (1 was submitted and approved for Clare Semans and Edward Heiliman in a 1918 Patent and a second by Roy Seastrunk who had a later patent date. with what appears to be the same figures (or as near as possible).  Semans and Heilman were not jewelers but rather store clerks, while Seastrunk was a Dallas jeweler.

 

If I had to guess, the S/H/S wings were made by these three guys working together (with Seastrunk making the wings and Seamans and Heilman selling them).

 

There are some small Dallas like wings hallmarked Roy Seastrunk as shown above which support this thought.

 

On the other hand, Eisenstadt did make and hallmark a Dallas wing variation using the (IIRC) Eagle trademark of a rather elaborate 1 piece wing.

 

In Art Gregg's advanced collection I have seen a number of these wings without the cloth backing. None were hallmarked.

 

The evidence is there that there are actually much MORE than the 2 original Dallas wing types.  Actual proof of who made what is a bit less clear though.

[blind pew]

"BC- Before Chris"!!!🤣

 

I think it's interesting that these "broad shield" dallas wings have some markedly different treatments in the reverse center of the shield and also in the manner in which the wings were attached. Although I have no evidence whatsoever, but these attachments seem to give me a sense of an "earlier" means of attaching wings to the shield and less refined than other means of attaching the wings. Does anyone else get that impression as well? 

[cwnorma]

46 minutes ago, blind pew said:

"BC- Before Chris"!!!🤣

 

I think it's interesting that these "broad shield" dallas wings have some markedly different treatments in the reverse center of the shield and also in the manner in which the wings were attached. Although I have no evidence whatsoever, but these attachments seem to give me a sense of an "earlier" means of attaching wings to the shield and less refined than other means of attaching the wings. Does anyone else get that impression as well? 

 

I do believe the evidence seems to show these mysterious "broad shield Dallas" wings did go through something of an evolution.

 

The earliest versions seem to be the "true Dallas" configuration (i.e., three silver cliche' pieces affixed to a cloth covered backplate).  At some point, this (as yet) unknown maker seems to have eliminated the cloth and soldered the pieces directly to the backplate.  Later, they seem to have again changed their manufacturing method to incorporate three solid strike pieces; silver soldered together.  This solid version exhibits multiple variations of the means of assembly.  Some have small silver oval backplates, others like Tom's example at the head of this thread use small silver rectangles and U-shaped reinforcements.  The spaces between the wings and shield can be observed of varying widths.

 

I have these two on hand:

 

 

Top:  Three pieces soldered to a sterling backplate

Bottom:  Three pieces affixed to a cloth covered backplate

 

 

 

Period close-up of "broad-shield Dallas" in wear

 

I should also note that there are versions of this badge known that exhibit a somewhat more crudely executed "US" and I've seen least one bearing no US at all.  

 

If ever any of us ever gets the gumption up to finally write that definitive wing book we have all been talking about, I suspect a whole page could be dedicated just to the manufacturing variations of this one enigmatic badge!

 

Cheers!

 

Chris

[blind pew]

Here's a different reverse to another "broad shield" Dallas wing. It looks like the reverse treatment of these wings were all over the place, with quite a bit of variability. Thanks again, everyone, for your participation and information regarding these wings. I ALWAYS learn something from your posts, which is greatly appreciated.  

[blind pew]

On 7/9/2023 at 7:35 PM, rustywings said:

I’m not sure if this small overseas cap-size Dallas-like wing will contribute much to your full-size wing research?  But it does exhibit a nice example of a Roy Seastruck hallmark…

 

With those circular depressions on the reverse and the broad shield and bigger stars, it sure looks like the larger size "broad shield" Dallas wings.